When I'm with you

Chapter 11

After Gab and I talked in the parking lot, things between us got better. He started to open himself up to us and it seemed like his intimadating look was gone too. I had also gotten used to calling him 'Gab', it didn't feel awkward anymore. And I didn't know if it was just me, but Gab seemed happy everytime I called him like that.. until Jane and Chad started to call him 'Gab' too.

"Gab, what are you eating?" Chad said.

"Gab, what class do you have next?" Jane said.

"Gab, can we go home together later?" Chad continued, though I didn't know why he had to ask since they always went home together.

"Gab, what--"

"GUYS! STOP CALLING MY NAME!!" Gab yelled, obviously annoyed. Since I started calling him 'Gab', the fantastic duo, Jane and Chad, decided to join the bandwagon and call him like that too. They enjoyed teasing him by endlessly calling his name even for the stupidest reasons, especially during lunch.

I stifled a laugh and Gab noticed right away. His green eyes narrowed as he glared at me, like it was all my fault. I looked away from him and turned my gaze to the next table: the cheering squad's table. Cindy was sitting in the middle surrounded by her friends and, much to my surprise, she was looking at us. When she saw me staring she quickly glared at me, furrowing her eyebrows. So I decided to play a game with her, a staring contest. She accepted my unspoken challenge and met my eye unblinkingly. We stared each other down for what seemed like an hour, but it was just 30 seconds. My eyes were starting to burn and I could feel tears forming. Just when I was about to surrender, I saw Cindy close her eyes.

Bam! I won!

Cindy groaned in disbelief. Her friends tried to comfort her while glaring at me so I turned my attention back to my friends with a huge grin of victory.

Gab had stopped whining and now the three of them were talking about video games. I couldn't understand them because I wasn't really a 'gamer' type of girl so I just kept quiet.

As soon as the bell for the last hour chimed, I immediately went to the pool for our practice. After two long and grueling hours, I finally got home. Then I lay down on my bed and took a nap.

I was woken up by a text on my phone. I lazily picked it up from the side table and opened the message. It was from Gab (I wasn't surprised because after our little talk in the parking lot we had become textmates), and it read:

"Got home? What'cha doing?"

Still half asleep, I tapped for a reply.

"Sleeping but woken up by your text."

I was about to go back to sleep again when I heard a reply.

"Really? Sorry, I didn't know that you were sleeping."

I felt bad for him, but it wasn't like I blamed him for waking me up. It was meant as a joke, but it didn't turn out like that.

"No, I was just kidding. I'm actually reading a book."

Our conversation lasted for about an hour until he excused himself because he had something to do. Then I went to the kitchen to help Mom cook for dinner.

She was busy chopping, mixing and stirring whatever she was preparing. I edged closer to her, curious about the delicious smell that had been emanating from the kitchen since I had gotten out of my room. Much to my expectation, Mom was preparing lasagna. On the other table there was a ready-to-oven roasted chicken. I couldn't help but feel great because of our delicious meal, but then I felt a little skeptical because she rarely combined lasagna and roasted chicken for dinner.. unless there was a special occasion or we were having visitors over. My curiosity overwhelmed me so I decided to ask Mom directly.